Gov Sanwo-Olu with his Ogun State counterpart, Gov Abiodun.
Lagos State has received doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from the Federal Government.
This was disclosed today by the State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu while speaking at the 2021 International Women’s Day celebration organised by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation held at Police College, Ikeja.
Governor Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the State Government received the vaccines at 4am on Tuesday, noting that the vaccines have been kept in a safe place.
He assured Lagosians that the State government will soon commence the vaccinations in line with the scheduled guidelines laid down by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA).
Governor Sanwo-Olu also implored Lagosians to continue to keep to all the COVID-19 protocols like wearing of facemasks, washing and sanitising their hands and observing social distance.
It would be recalled that last week, Nigeria took delivery of about four million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines as part of an overall 16 million doses planned to be delivered to the country in batches over the next few months.
The vaccines were provided by COVAX, in an unprecedented global effort to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.
President Muhammadu Buhari and his vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on Saturday received shots of the COVID-19 vaccines at the State House, Abuja, and since then other eminent Nigerians have also received it.
Meanwhile, the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun has called on Ogun residents not to see the arrival and eventual administration of COVID-19 vaccine as an avenue to disregard the use of face mask, saying adherence to its guidelines must be observed at all times.
Governor Abiodun who dropped the hint in Abeokuta, while receiving 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, said it is safe to be administered as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC), has certified it harmless after it had gone through rigorous testing.
“I want to let you know that the vaccines are here, but this is not an opportunity for us to throw our masks away. The protocol of administering this vaccine is that you get the first shot and then the booster shot, and it is not until we get the booster shot that we have the required level of immunity, even at that, what science tells us is that it is meant to reduce the severity of the disease not completely eliminate it, the COVID-19 protocols must still continue’’, he admonished.
The Governor, while noting that he and some cabinet members who took the first dosage of the vaccine, showed the people of the State how confident they were about it, adding that his administration has identified particular State hospitals, General Hospitals, Primary Healthcare Centres across the State as vaccination points.
“As regards safety, we are relying on all the testing and evaluation of this vaccine that has being done worldwide, this vaccination has been given emergency operational use in the United States of America, it’s been given approval in the United Kingdom, it was recently approved for use in Europe and our NAFDAC has also subjected the vaccine when they arrived to rigorous testing to ensure it is safe for our use, so, having gone through that, we have cause to believe that this vaccine is safe for our use”, he said.
The Governor, while urging the people to visit a portal where they could register for the administration of the vaccine, maintained that the State would be prioritising its frontline healthcare workers and elders.
